Lights, action and a short trip to Auckland

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Last week was just so busy what with one thing and another. This week is a little better, and then hopefully we can then have a relatively quiet time for a few weeks. I better not speak too soon though!

On Thursday evening, we went to The Contact Season of Power Plant, which is an interesting collaboration between five artists (Mark Anderson, Anne Bean, Jony Easterby, Kirsten Reynolds and Ulf Mark Pedersen), who have ‘converted’ or adapted public parks in different cities into magical spaces through the use of sound and light. The first one was in Oxford in 2005, and it has also been shown in Edinburgh, Sydney and Tasmania. The creative team from the UK spent a week in Wellington last year exploring the Botanic Gardens and creating the unique installation.

How to describe it? Imagine a walk in a park in the dark, and as you walk along, you come upon things like whirring electric flowers, dresses used as lampshades that made you feel you were in a fairy grotto, lights on paths, lights in trees and noises all around. There was one piece that I called ‘the vortex’ as it looked as if you were entering a tunnel of light as in a science fiction film (I almost expected to see Daleks at the end!). Around the duck pond, there were what I read are ‘pyro-phones’ that belched flames and made sounds. All in all, a wonderful hour full of all sorts of surprises.

There was no rest at the weekend as I headed to Auckland to do some research interviews for a project being undertaken in Karl’s department. I got to see all sorts of suburbs of the city, some more interesting than others! I was lucky to meet friends for a Mongolian barbeque dinner on Saturday evening which was a lovely way to switch off and catch up a bit.

On the Sunday, our final interview was in Swanson, where we also stopped for a much needed cold drink in a cafe inside the former waiting room, I guess, of the railway station.

So, it was one busy week with all sorts of things going on, from a guest, to the theatre to a wee trip.

You can see a tiny selection of pictures from the Power Plant event here.